FBI says coronavirus research companies are being ‘hacked by foreign governments’ to steal treatment info

HACKERS from foreign governments have allegedly broken into US companies researching Covid-19 treatment.

Top FBI cybersecurity official Tonya Ugoretz said the bureau has detected state-backed hackers scoping healthcare and research institutions in a bid to steal their work on coronavirus vaccines and medicines.

The FBI top cyberspook Tonya Ugoretz made the warning as the pandemic continues to wreak havocCredit: FBI

Mrs Ugoretz, talking to an online panel discussion, said state-backed hackers were poking around a series of healthcare and research institutions.

She said: "We certainly have seen reconnaissance activity, and some intrusions, into some of those institutions, especially those that have publicly identified themselves as working on COVID-related research.”

While publicising promising treatments or a coronavirus vaccine, she said: "The sad flipside is that it kind of makes them a mark for other nation-states that are interested in gleaning details about what exactly they're doing and maybe even stealing proprietary information.”

State-backed hackers often targeted the biopharmaceutical industry, but she said during the pandemic this had been stepped up.

Bill Evanina, director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, said: "Medical research organizations and those who work for them should be vigilant against threat actors seeking to steal intellectual property or other sensitive data related to America's response to the COVID19 pandemic.”

The FBI declined to comment.

A spokeswoman for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence had no immediate comment.

Specific countries or targeted organizations were not named.

But Chinese and Russian backed hackers have a long history of hacking into Western firms to steal ideas.

North Korea also engages in cyber crime and espionage to counter sanctions.

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SWARM WARNING

It comes as a new model predicts the US could see a surge in coronavirus cases if state lockdowns are eased too soon despite Donald Trump's plans to reopen some states.

Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) released a model on Thursday that depicts the spread of the killer virus using data from China, Italy, South Korea and the US.

Any immediate or near-term relaxation of mitigation measures already in place nationwide would lead to an "exponential explosion" in coronavirus cases, the authors say.

"This is a really crucial moment of time. If we relax quarantine measures, it could lead to disaster," said MIT Professor George Barbastathis.

Meanwhile, China is pushing back against Trump and some of his officials, who have flirted with the theory that coronavirus was set loose by a Chinese lab that let it escape.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman today accused the U. administration of attempting to shift the focus from its own missteps in dealing with the pandemic by talking up a theory that it was started by a pathogen from a laboratory in Wuhan, the city where the global outbreak began.

A scientific consensus is still evolving, but the leading theory is that infection among humans began at an animal market in Wuhan, probably from an animal that got the virus from a bat.